Back & busy in Auckland

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It's smashing being back in Auckland hosting the Supper Club again. In these distressing world times, the Auckland Supper Club is a haven of uplifting story telling, perfumed cooking, eating together on my pointy terrace and indulging in that magical zone of being looked after by someone else for a few blissful hours.The first class of the season last night, saw us learning how to find pesto, pizza rustica (see recipe below), fish stew, clafoutis and brilliant pomegranate seeds in our very own kitchens. I've written a whole chapter about what it's like to be in the Supper Club in my new book 'It's Been Six Weeks Since My Last Confession'. To book or find out more go HERE.

Tours in 2026

The whole of Europe is getting hotter so I now want to cluster my food tours around the temperate, idyllic months of May and June. In July, August and September I am in my home in Uzès in the South of France, teaching cooking classes in my pretty air-conditioned kitchen and mainlining rosé. My May tour is in sexy, adorable Puglia in the heel of Italy. We spend half the week in the Baroque city of Lecce and half in the countryside at a gorgeous masseria (farmhouse). In Lecce we go shopping, have a cooking lesson, go to the seaside to see traditional textiles on an embroidery loom, eat seafood till it's coming out our ears and on the way to the countryside, visit a winery to taste the traditional wines of Puglia – Susumaniello, Primitivo & Negroamaro. At the masseria where they grow their own organic grapes, olives and vegetables, we lie around in luxury sipping cocktails in the vineyard at sunset, walking through the property collecting ingredients for our cooking class and sailing the high seas in a hand made wooden yacht. Our last night bash involves dancing, singing and weeping because we are leaving. Find out more HERE.

The Uzès tour in June (in my French home town) was my first ever tour twenty years ago so is very dear to my heart. I'm friends with everyone we deal with... I know the growers, the cooks, the starred restaurants, the cheesemakers, the vineyards. We spend the week in a very lovely hotel in the middle of town, radiating out to visit the Nimes market, the St-Remy-de-Provence olive grove and the pottery town of St-Quentin-la-Potery. The South of France is sun-drenched of course and still thinks it's Spanish – the cuisine is full of strong flavours like anchovies, olives and salt cod and full bodied, spicy, richly coloured wine like Grenache and Syrah. We shop at Soulieado for provencale shirts, scarves and espadrilles. I teach a cooking class in my home, my friend Petra teaches one in her home and the last night bash sees us enjoying a jazz band, eating paella & sipping bubbly on my terrace (dressed in our new provencal kit). Find out more HERE.
 

India fashion and textile tour 1– 10 March 2026 – 1 room left– full details HERE
Puglia gastronomic tour 20 – 26 May 2026 – full details HERE
Uzès gastronomic tour 5 – 11 June 2026 – full details HERE
Basque Country gastronomic tour 20 – 26 June 2026 – 1 room left – full details HERE

Book News

My new book 'It's Been Six Weeks Since My Last Confession' took me around the country with heart-warming book launches. My brother drove me from the Arrowtown event to the Dunedin event – so we had three hours to talk about life, new grandchildren and the poor standard of dress on airplanes. He said but why do you care? I said because it has a weakening effect on the personality. I wrote a whole chapter about it in the book. During the storm I got blown violently from Wellington to Christchurch. The Wellington Club put on a superb dinner for my launch and Emmas of Oxford and Scorpio Books in Christchurch outdid themselves with warmth, fun and support. Lots of recovered Catholics confessing. It's available at all good booksellers now!

Puglian Pizza Rustica (serves 4)

  • 150g cream cheese

  • 2 heaped tbsp pesto

  • puff pastry – Paneton is the best

  • 350g cherry tomatoes, halved

  • 1 egg

  • A handful of fresh basil

In Italy they call this a “pizza rustica”, though with its puff pastry base and fresh tomato topping it more closely resembles a tart than a pizza. This is one of those dishes that is deliciously simple and intuitive to make: I like to top the tart with baby tomatoes, just halved and arranged over a layer of pesto mixed with a little cream cheese; but you could opt for rounds of courgette instead. Or, now they're in season, thin stems of asparagus, lined up like little soldiers and dressed with a dash of olive oil.

  1. Heat the oven to 160C (180C non-fan). Mix the cream cheese and pesto together in a small bowl, then set to one side.

  2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Roll out the puff pastry to a rough 28cm circle, then spread the cream cheese-pesto mix over the centre of the pastry, leaving a generous margin around the edge. Top with the tomatoes, arranging them snugly, cut-side up, all over the cream cheese-pesto mix.

  3. Gently fold over the edge of the pastry about an inch so it holds in the tomatoes.

  4. Crack the egg into a small bowl, whisk lightly with a fork, then use a pastry brush to glaze the folded rim of the pastry.

  5. Bake in the oven for 30 min until the pastry is puffed up and lightly golden all over. Let it cool for 10 min or so before serving, then dot with a few fresh basil leaves. Eat warm or at room temperature.

And that's the seven o'clock news. This is the thought for the day: punctuality. The ancient Greeks believed you learn from patience – it's not just saying no to speed, it's creating an opportunity for contemplation so it doesn't matter if someone is late. I have no patience and use the contemplation time for judgemental thinking, strategies involving poison and biblical retribution. 

Peta